raising/breeding Uroplectes olivaceus

[Andre2]

Hi,

My name is André. I'm from the Netherlands. I have a large scorpion collection and currently breed with about 20 species. My main interest is the genus Uroplectes, which are some of the most beautiful scorpions on Earth.
Among these I also try to raise 6 U. olivaceus, which i bought as 2nd instars from a well known European breeder.
U. olivaceus has a bad reputation (difficult to keep). Apart from the sensitivity to dehydration, I see no real problem yet. These young were born early september. 1 male specimen is already 5th instar, the other 5 are well eating 4th instars. I had one more which died during the molt from 2nd to 3rd instar.

Does anybody know if there is a specific problem with the (sub-) adult stage of this species? I wanna know where this reputation comes from. I don't believe in rumours and can't seem to find any data, only a Czech article by Kovarik..

These are my captive conditions for U. olivaceus;
daytime; 28-30 degrees
nighttime; 22-25 degrees
I use open containers (safe!!) with a 30-70% peat-sand mix, in which i inject moisture until a 2cm patch of the substrate is moist. I never leave this dry for more than 6 hours! (This means injecting 2 times a day! Which can become a bit boring after a while, haha..)
They are vicious predators (unlike what I see from U. vittatus f.e.), which feed well on insects almost the size of their mesosoma!

I am interested in exchanging experiences with other people who kept it. Maybe you can help me a little closer to succes with this species, because I really want to attempt a serious breeding attempt! And who knows, maybe we can trade the young next summer!

I plan a cooler period (maybe februari-march) when the subadults are near the final instar. Any feedback comments on this? I just fear that it will grow TOO fast..(and not live very long as adult..)

Am I just lucky, so far? I had more difficulty raising U. pilosus f.e.....

 

[fusion121]

Hi
I've found these guys pretty easy to raise, I found U. pilosus much harder to raise like you (only 1/5 of my U. pilosus reached adulthood). As you say they are vulnerable to dehydration but with spraying once a week and regular feeding its not a problem, I think spraying once a day could be to much, they are also sensitive to too much ambient humidity. Mine are all 6th instar now (I'm not sure if that's adult or not) which they reached in about 5 months.

 

[Andre2]

Hello Oliver,

Glad to hear you had similar experience! I think the 6th instar is adult for a male. Maybe the female grows 1 bigger (like U. planimanus). So maybe not so much problem after all?
You think I overdo it with the moisture? I was told that it would dehydrate within 24 hours during the molt-phase... I use open containers so damp air is not a real problem..

good luck with your breeding!

André

 

[Avicularia Kael]

How venomous is this species?

 

[Liquifin]

How venomous is this species?

This thread is dead, it's posted over 10 years ago. But to answer your question, U. olivaceus are ranged somewhere from 3.5-5 out of 5. They're from the Buthidae family. So almost if not all Buthidae venom are ranged from 3-5 of 5, all buthidae have either decently-strong to really venomous venom.

I'm not a expert on scorps, but I had a few experiences with a scorp keeper a couple years back.

 

[ArachnoDrew]

I currently keep Otjimbiguenses. Chubbi. Fischeri. And will soon have olivaceus.... I find all of then very easy to keep. Younger instars are very susceptible to drying out and over heating so I keep them cooler and mist more often but adult to well... I tried keeping them in smaller enclosures and got very poor results but as soon as I went with very large communal setups and kept crickets in there often.... they thrived. I wa seeing babies in no time...

@Scorpionluva has a ton if experience with uroplectes